01.01 | Into the Story
Matthew 1
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Matthew 1:1
A genealogy? Seriously?
When I was a kid, my grandma was really into the family history. Now I loved my grandma—she was a saint, a prayer warrior, and her cooking made my heart sing—but as a nine year old I just didn’t have an appetite for hearing the family history and its interesting connections with the development of the steam train (ask me again sometime).
The funny thing is that, as I get older, I wish I’d listened. More than this: I wish I’d asked questions. And taken notes. Until I’d absolutely exhausted her knowledge and she was looking to escape my inquisition, rather than me looking for a bolt hole to get back to climbing the laurel trees in the garden.
Why?
Because history is ultimately story. It is roots and background. It captures what has been, which helps to position what is. Because understanding where you come from has a lot to do with understanding where you are and how you got here. And it may just give you some ideas on where you’re going.
Matthew, as a good Jewish boy, knows this. When he starts with this list of names, he’s being so intentional.
He’s intentional about including names that his readers will know. Names like Abraham, the father of the the nation, who received promises from God about his children becoming a movement of people that would bring life to the whole world. Or names like Rahab, a sex worker from another nation, whose simple trust in God led to her whole family entering the story of blessing.
But he’s also intentional on another level. There is one name Matthew has inscribed into the heart of this list. The Old Testament was mostly written in Hebrew. Hebrew authors sometimes used a system of numerical coding, where different letters of the alphabet had a different number. Scholars call it gematria.
Bear with me here.
This meant that individual names could be given a number by adding together the value of the different letters that made up their name.
And the number fourteen was particularly significant, because it was the number of the name of a key figure in the story so far:
David.
If you’re interested/a little nerdy, his name is spelt using the Hebrew letters Dalet (4) + Vav (6) + Dalet (4).
“…fourteen generations … fourteen generations … fourteen generations …”
And guess who is the fourteenth name on the list?
David.
Why was this so essential to how Matthew wanted to begin?
Because David was the man in the Old Testament who, more than any other, modelled the kind of rule that would be needed to lead God’s people into their global purpose. He was the king more than any other who reflected the heart of God. He was the king whose character echoed through the ages as the kind of leader that would define the coming kingly ruler of God’s people.
The prophets had told of a coming Son of David, a king who would bring all the pain of the world into the healing life of God and establish a permanent temple within which God would dwell. Every brokenness would be brought back to beauty by this coming king. His reign would become so complete that the whole world would be gathered into the flourishing of God Himself. David was the name of the king that would bring the people of God into the life of God, that this life may flow into all the pains of a hurting world.
Matthew is being so intentional. He wants us to know that the great backstory of God is being fulfilled in this story he’s writing. And he wants us to know that the King, who will bring a reign of total goodness and life and freedom, is arriving.
The Son of David.
Genealogy is story. And this story is bringing to completion all that this people have hoped for. The King has arrived.
Reflect:
As you begin this new year, your story begins in Jesus. His backstory becomes yours, and the year to come is defined by Him. How do your hopes and fears look with this in mind?
Pray:
Father,
At the beginning of this year,
I give you my life once again.
As I go through the days of this year,
I want the reign of Jesus to increase in my life and through my life.
Take my thoughts and my hopes and my hurts;
Take my time and gifts and all that I have;
And make them beautiful in your purposes and plan.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Old Testament:
For those of you also reading the Old Testament this year, here are today’s readings:
Genesis 1-2 | Psalm 1